Pablo Sandoval circles the bases on his three-run homer off Paul Maholm.

Pablo Sandoval circles the bases on his three-run homer off Paul Maholm.

Photo: Gary A. Vasquez, Reuters

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The Giants' Buster Posey tags out A.J. Ellis as he tried to score in the seventh.

The Giants' Buster Posey tags out A.J. Ellis as he tried to score in the seventh.

Photo: Alex Gallardo, Associated Press

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LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 05: Pablo Sandoval #48 of the San Francisco Giants hits a three-run home run in the fifth inning during the MLB game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 5, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images) less

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 05: Pablo Sandoval #48 of the San Francisco Giants hits a three-run home run in the fifth inning during the MLB game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 5, 2014 ... more

Photo: Victor Decolongon, Getty Images

Giants slug 3 home runs, beat Dodgers

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LOS ANGELES - Everything went right for Madison Bumgarner on Saturday. He pitched well, the Giants provided him more than enough offense and they played strong defense behind him. The bullpen pitched in, too.

Bumgarner struck out 10 while working into the seventh inning and the Giants beat Los Angeles 7-2.

The Giants got home runs from Michael Morse, Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey.

"We've always had a good defensive team, and we're starting to swing the bats now," Bumgarner said. "So we're a pretty well-rounded team. Today the bullpen came in and did a great job, and the offense was unbelievable again. It's nice to have that kind of support. It makes it easier to go after guys and challenge them."

Yasiel Puig returned to the Dodgers' lineup, playing right field and leading off a day after he was benched by manager Don Mattingly for arriving late before his team's home opener. Puig went 1-for-4 and was caught stealing in the third inning for the final out with cleanup hitter Adrian Gonzalez at the plate.

Bumgarner (1-0) allowed two runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 innings in his second outing.

"I was throwing a little bit of everything," he said. "It seemed like they had a lot of baserunners today, but I felt like I made good pitches all day. The command was there and my stuff was pretty good."

Bumgarner has a career strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.65-1, which is better than that of All-Star teammates Tim Lincecum (2.77-1) and Matt Cain (2.48-1). Last season, Bumgarner fell one strikeout shy of becoming the second Giants lefty since Ray Sadecki in 1968 to finish a season with 200 or more.

"You don't want to give guys free passes at any time. You have to make them earn it of you can," Bumgarner said. "But at the same time, you don't want to just give in and just throw a meatball up there. You've got to make pitches and work on command and get ahead of guys."

Bumgarner is 4-1 with a 1.53 ERA in his past five starts at Chavez Ravine.

"He was commanding both sides of the plate and locating," Gonzalez said. "He's just like anybody else: If he can command down and away, down and in, up and away and up and in, and crisscross the strike zone, it makes it tough."

A.J. Ellis tried to score behind Van Slyke and was thrown out by Hunter Pence for the third out. Mattingly used his challenge for a video replay ruling, which upheld the original call.

"I had to make a pretty good throw and Buster had to make a great tag," Pence said.

Paul Maholm (0-1) gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings in his first start for the Dodgers.

"Maholm's got a lot of different pitches that he throws in a lot of different ways, and he located really well. So it's always tough," Pence said. "You just battle, make him get the ball over the plate and be aggressive."

Sandoval parked Maholm's 80th and final pitch over the left-field fence in the fifth with two on for his first home run of 2014.

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